Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Knuckles-Fajita To be honest, I think that Labo announcement could even mean no Nintendo Direct until September. The big reason I thought there'd be one before would be to announce games to go alongside the Torna DLC and Super Mario Party like Wii U ports but now it seems like Nintendo's just taking advantage of late 3rd party arrivals (like a lot of the Capcom support should've come in 2017).

@Knuckles-Fajita

I can't list half that many games that Sony published this year, and certainly not Microsoft. Even just counting only new releases it's still more.

So ya, if they release this many games every year, I'll be a happy man. I never thought I would see the day we get basically a game a month all year, all of which are both console and first ever HD handheld versions, including Smash AND first ever console Pokemon, and that's considered "not hot". Some years may have more games I'm interested in than others, but with that many good games releasing there's always gonna be at least a couple. I can already count Daemon X Machina, Fire Emblem, Pokémon 2019 and Yoshi for 2019- if they add 4 great Wii U ports on top of it, and one or two other new games like Metroid Prime 4 or Bayonetta 3... it's gonna be 2018 all over again (a very good thing), only with even more games I'm excited for out of the bunch.

If 3DS had a lineup like that at any point during its lifespan people would have been raging about the greatest lineup ever.

Heck I remember just getting DKC Returns, Fire Emblem Awakening and Luigis Mansion the first half of 2013 (2 new games and a port- HALF of what Switch got the first half of this year) and people still talk about how great that release year was to this day. Think it got a Mario & Luigi game in August and Pokémon in November. Which, Switch is getting that much and more for the second half.

Not to mention the mountain of third-party games that have piled up on the system this year (including exclusives like The World Ends With You, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate and Octopath Traveller) and substantial DLC which are basically half-games in and of themselves (Mario Rabbids DK expansion and Xenoblade 2- Torna standalone expansion), and I've got a bigger backlog that's accumulated this year than any year in my entire history of playing video games.

And yet people want to complain about not enough good games... At the end of the day, 2018 will have been a great year for Switch, adding 3X as many purchase worthy games to the catalog as 2017 brought, even if 2017 had a record 1st party release lineup (which should be stressed- record lineup, meaning its folly to expect a repeat of an outlier- release years should be judged against historical average, and 2018 still beat any year Wii U or 3DS ever saw, and that's what I'm judging by, that and the fact I'll have added double digits of Nintendo published games from 2018).

All this to say, even if it wasn't the best year ever strictly regarding first party, it was still, at the very least, pretty good. And the ports all had merit because they were actual handheld versions- akin to 3DS getting DKC Returns or Xenoblade Chronicles, all of which brought tons of hype because, it's a big deal when a console game goes portable. It justifies the ports. At least, for those of us who owned a 3DS and want handheld games. Maybe not for people unenthused with handheld gaming. But if that's the case, there's a much higher probability they never played the ports to begin with since most of Nintendos fanbase is on handhelds. Or was, anyways.

I don't have a problem with the quantity of first-party titles they're releasing this year (it's keeping pace with last year, where we got a decent-to-big release every month). Most of them just don't appeal to me. A lot of them are ports of games I have no desire to revisit on new hardware for full price. A few of them are sports and party games, neither of which I'm willing to buy any time soon (besides Smash, which some people consider a "party game"). And then you have releases that are just flawed in big ways, like Pokemon Let's Go! with its extreme hand-holding and lack of random battles.

It's looking like the best first-party releases of the year will be DLC. Octo Expansion was fantastic, and the Torna expansion looks really meaty as well.

Third parties are picking up the slack for them, though. We're getting more third-party releases this year than I can reasonably keep up with. It's nice to finally see some quality JRPG's come to the system as well!

@TheShadowFax I use tabletop mode with my wireless bluethooth headset, more comfortable than handheld mode lol

@Knuckles-Fajita You're missing the Octo Expansion, Torna DLC and DK expansion for M+R. That's some seriously meaty content, that brings this year from meh to decent.

@JaxonH That's some solid argumentation! I was actually a bit grumpy over this year's line-up but you just made me realise that's because of unrealistic expectations and not because of a bad line-up.

@toiletduck
I think a lot of expectations were. But when you put things into perspective on a broader scale, you realize this year was not half bad, in fact I dare say it's pretty good.

I think Ralizah said it best- it's more the fact that a percentage of the games simply do not appeal to him, not that the lineup is actually bad. I skipped out on LABO and I'm still unsure on Super Mario Party- not that the game looks bad because I think it looks amazing and probably the best Mario party I've ever seen, I'm just not sure if I'll play it. Unless it has good single player, then again this would be something good to have for holidays with the family.

Although I'm incredibly excited for Pokémon- having never got into the series before I'm hoping this will be the one that does it for me. Yeah it may tell you to have a certain type of Pokémon before a gym but how many types are there- chances are you're going to have whatever type they want you to have anyways. Plus I have absolutely no idea what the weaknesses are, at all, so that sort of thing is exactly what I need to get into the game.

@JaxonH It's funny, because I think Wii U owners would have killed for a year like this. When a "slow year" for Switch has Mario Party, Pokemon, Smash, etc. then you know Nintendo is doing something right.

The only way I can see this year being disappointing is if you owned all of the ports on Wii U beforehand and refuse to buy any third party releases on Switch that are also coming to PS4/Xbone. A lot of these people aren't even interested in a bunch of the exclusives lined up for the system. It's hard to take people like this seriously when they complain. If you're going to ignore vast swaths of a system's library, OF COURSE you're going to be disappointed with it. But those limitations are self-imposed.

@JaxonH IIRC, the game already tells you about what to bring to the first gym if you talk to the NPCs. Forcing you to bring one is oddly restrictive, like an insult on the player's intelligence. It was never difficult to begin with, so it's weird seeing the franchise becoming easier and easier over time. /rant

@JaxonH That Pokemon logic there is slightly flawed as yes the game will tell you what types you need.

But so do the other games. Only in this one they force you to have it.

Plus if type matchups are your problem, in Sun and Moon, the game tells you which of your moves are effective once you have encountered a Pokemon before.

Oh, and there are 18 types that will be spread across 151 Pokemon in this game.

The problem ia only 3 of them are Dragon, 2 are Steel and none are Dark.

So really it works out more like 15 types.

And now I realise there are no Dark types and Steel is limited it means Psychic will run house again. Great.

@Octane
I don't think it's an insult on the players intelligence when a bunch of new people who haven't really played the game before are going to be jumping in (like me!). Only, I'm a gamer and can intuitively figure stuff out. I'm betting anybody who jumps in this game from Pokémon GO might not have that same gamer intuition.

But sure, I think it would be better if they just gave you a warning that you don't have what you need, but at the end of the day it's not that big of a deal. You're going to have one in your party anyways and if you don't, you're probably going to want to get one for your party anyways. Idk, it just seems like a very small thing to get so bent out of shape about, even if you are correct in your statement.

I've seen people losing their minds over this like guys, I get it, but it's not that big of a deal.

@Octane Yeah the forcing is a first and its also very restrictive.

Like...we got rid of HMs to stop forcing people to bring certain Pokemon. Now the game does it for a different and honestly worse reason.

Plus, mandating a Grass or Water type in your team to fight Brock makes me wonder...what was the point of giving Pikachu and Eevee the move Double Kick to deal with Rock types if we wont use them?

@Knuckles-Fajita
I do think it would have been better to just give a warning. At the same time I think it will be helpful for someone like me. And it kind of creates a requirement to progress which video games do all the time. Collect these three coins before you can open the door, collect these five keys before you can unlock the chest. Capture this certain Pokémon before you can battle the gym trainer...

Idk, just kind of falls in line with what video games do to me. Still, I'm not arguing about that- I would certainly not be opposed to just a warning message. It would be both informative and allow the experienced people like you guys to get right into it. But with that being said it just doesn't seem like something worth complaining about more than 10 minutes and then moving on

@JaxonH I find it more odd that the developers say Pokemon was too complex.

I dont recall it being a megahit in the hit 90s or anything but im fairly sure difficulty had nothibg to do with it. Franchise fatigue is what pushed most away.

But its such an odd move. Remove half of the battling gameplay mechanics in favour of a mobile game...and make the game incredibly restrictive to play it just doesnt feel like a natural gateway into the franchise. It feels more like its vastly underpreparing you for the next game.

But to compound issues a lot of people droppped Pokemon around Gen 3 because the number of Pokemon got too high and are looking at this to get back ibto the series...I have to ask how they expect to do that?

I mean, they couldnt handle being introduced to 135 new Pokwmon in Gen 3. The number went from 252 to 387, and only 202 were actually in the game.

I dont know how theyll cope going from the original 151 to the current 807 plus whatever they add next in one fell swoop if a mere 135 new was too much at once.

@JaxonH It's a small thing, but they add up over time. It's kinda sad to see a franchise I used to like go in a direction that I absolutely don't want it to go in. And the games aren't overly complex RPGs or anything, they were already simple games, so I don't understand why they think it all should be made easier for new players. I really hope none of the GO stuff carries over to next year's game, and I hope they're going back to their roots, but I doubt it!

@Knuckles-Fajita Making sure that if you can't figure out how to swap your party around, you can still beat the gym

@ReaderRagfish The key thing is forced vs. optional. In Let's Go you can't challenge the gym unless you have the right type, level, etc. whereas in previous games it was more "Here's a useful hint, use it if you want but it's not compulsory".

I just came across this video:

And if not, then just ignore it...

@Octane
Yeah but I think those criticisms would hold more merit it if it was an actual regular series entry.

I don't find it too odd that a one-off Pokemon spinoff on the GO formula, made to draw in players from Pokémon GO, has been made easier.

Now if next year's games are like that then I think you've got something tangible to talk about. But we can't pretend this game is the same as the normal entries. It definitely follows the core formula quite a bit but it's still based off of GO and it still meant to draw in players of GO.

The Switch didn't have much in the way of blockbusters for me this year, but it does have Octopath and Smash, so it can't be that bad of a year by deafult, lol. Though I definitely use the thing way less than I used to. I hope 2019 brings me around again

Just a tip, stop comparing the let's go games with main pokemon games. They are not supposed to be main entries, you will only find flaws and be disappointed if you do. The difference between the games is more like the jump from super Mario to paper Mario, same characters, not the same game.